Crews battle brush fire near townhomes in Port Richey
PORT RICHEY, Fla. (WFLA) — Crews are battling a brush fire near townhomes in Port Richey.
Video from Eagle 8 HD shows lots of smoke and flames near U.S. 19 and Bay Boulevard in Port Richey. According to the Florida Forest Service, calls for the fire came in around 8 p.m. on Wednesday and crews have been in the wooded area near the homes since then.
“First time ever,” said neighbor Brad Faucett. “12 years that I’ve been here, we’ve ever had anything like this.”
The fire is burning in a wooded area near the Avila Bay Townhomes off Old Post Road.
“About 4 a.m. we woke up just smelling smoke inside the house,” said neighbor Doug Cassidy. “Of course, it’s sealed up because we’ve got the air on, but it was kind of surprising. You almost think your house might be on fire when you smell smoke.”
No evacuation orders have been given for anyone living near the fire, but residents woke up to the smell of smoke in the air.
“Quite a bit of ash in the driveway,” Cassidy said. “The pieces were bigger.”
The Forest Service said the wildfire is 90% contained and stretches 20 acres. They said no buildings were threatened by the flames.
“The challenges in this was the terrain,” said Gary Sisson with the Florida Forest Service. “The dozers could not stand up. They were getting stuck.”
So, the Service said it pulled the dozers out.
“Weather factors were in our favor, so we did a burn out,” said Sisson. “Which means we burned it up to our lines, the natural barriers here and was able to contain it that way.”
Firefighters said they will continue to be in the area over the next several days.
This is a developing story. Stay up to date on the latest from News Channel 8 on-air and on the go with the free WFLA News Channel 8 mobile app.
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